Prime Minister Joseph Muscat is putting “the cart before the horse” in declaring that part of a new university will be located in Żonqor, because the institution has not yet been approved, the Nationalist Party said yesterday.

The PN said the American University of Malta was still waiting to be given the thumbs up and an application for accreditation was supposedly still under scrutiny.

Shadow Education Minister Therese Comodini Cachia asked what the use of applying for accreditation was when the Prime Minister was certain that this would be granted.

She was reacting to remarks made by Dr Muscat last week that the government would definitely be locating part of the university along the contentious stretch of coast, which is outside the development zone.

The possibility of the university being located there sparked a public outcry which eventually led to what many described as the largest environmental protest the island had ever seen.

Dr Comodini Cachia expressed her serious concern that the government had no qualms about wiping away the checks and balances in place by circumventing the National Commission for Higher Education.

She deplored the Prime Minister’s “bulldozer attitude”.

In a reply the government said the Opposition was “attacking yet another institution” and was being negative while the government focused on attracting new investment.